Rusty Costanza/The Times-PicayuneTexas' Damion James is hoping to forget the Longhorns' season fade.

There was a time, not so long ago, that the Texas Longhorns were ranked No. 1 in the nation.

It was Jan. 18, and well, it seems like it was a long time ago.

Since reaching that lofty status, the Longhorns have gone 7-9, with their last loss being an 86-67 whipping by Baylor.

They try to start anew against Wake Forest on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. at the New Orleans Arena.

"We're looking forward going out and playing tomorrow because it's a new 40 minutes," said senior forward Damion James. "It we go out and win these games, people are going to forget all about what happened in the past."

Since it is the No. 8 seed in the East Region, it appears what Texas did earlier in the season is forgotten.

To put that behind them, the Longhorns will have to beat a Wake Forest team that also finished the season in a disappointing manner.

After getting a win against Georgia Tech on Feb. 13, the Demon Deacons were 18-5 and poised to assert themselves nationally.

Rusty Costanza/The Times-PicayuneWake Forest's Ishmael Smith is trying to put the losing streak out of his mind.

But in the next game, they lost an 11-point lead to Virginia Tech and lost by four.

They skidded to a 1-5 finish to the season, the final loss an 83-62 thrashing by Miami in the first round of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament.

"Al-Farouq Aminu is my roommate and he and I woke up to ESPN talking about how Texas and us are so similar talent-wise," senior guard Ishmael Smith said. "Then at the same time how we're kind off sliding and everybody's trying to figure out what's the problem.

"I've tried to cut off the TV and everything because of the five game or five out of six-game losing streak we've had."